You won't ever find it in the New Testament - the dual was used in Classical
Greek to refer to two things, usually two things which form a pair, e.g. a
pair of eyes. It was somewhat rare, and had disappeared by the time of the
New Testament. I think Homer used it a lot. (I know all this from Smyth,
since I've read very little classical, and find Homer incomprehensible, even
if I do peek at the Greek every once in a while now that I'm reading the
Odyssey.)
>In John 17:2 Jesus is given 'EXOUSIAN PASHS SARKOS', and SARKOS is
>in the singular, yet it applies to 'all flesh'.
This is true for both the Greek and the English.
>Is this type of
>phenomenon to be expected in other words which can be classified as
>'mass' nouns. ? I regret that my introductory grammar never taught
>me this, and I have yet to purchase or pick an intermediate grammar.
Well, it is true that flesh is a mass noun, since you can't have two
fleshes, but I think it is also important to realize that this is a
metaphorical usage - "all flesh" does not mean the sum total of all flesh on
earth, leaving out the spirit and maybe leaving out the bones.
Jonathan
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